The Daddy's Girl

Part 1 - Chapters 1 to 4

Part 1 - Chapters 1 to 4

The six of them gather in the back room of a Parisian speakeasy. Amelia watches the door, waiting for Matis Moreau to walk in with news she desperately wants to hear: that her father is retiring and Matis will take over the club. If that happens, she gets to work beside him every day. Her brother Julian sits next to her, gloating about being named successor. Jack St. Claire takes the head of the table and asks if everyone got the email.

Jack reads the email aloud. It's from Ronan Kade, Amelia's father. He announces his retirement after twenty-five years of running L'Amour with his partner, Matis Moreau. Amelia's spine straightens. This is what she predicted. But the next line crushes her. Ronan says he and Matis both agree the six of them should make the club their own. Ownership passes down collectively to Julian, Amelia, Jack, Phoenix, Elizabeth, and Weston.

Julian snaps, demanding to know who owns the club. Phoenix realizes it means all of them. Matis is retiring too. He'll be gone entirely. The letter continues, explaining that Ronan sees six adults who have lost their way, who've grown apart. He believes they can make a club even better than what their parents created if they work together. He begs them to give it a shot.

Tears spring to Amelia's eyes. She's devastated to lose the chance to work closely with Matis, but she loves the idea of them becoming a family again. The group sits in stunned silence. Julian panics. Jack insists there must be a catch. Elizabeth stands, declaring none of them are getting the club after all. Amelia pleads with them to consider it. Julian snaps that they're more likely to sprout wings and fly to Neverland than work together. Amelia argues that maybe her father is right. Julian whispers it's a waste of time.

Everyone starts to leave. Amelia feels it slipping away. Then Jack cracks. One year, he says. What do they have to lose? He lays out the vision: Amelia has design and marketing skills, Weston can run the bar, Phoenix has business brains, Elizabeth can handle entertainment. Julian steps up to face Jack. The two face off, but hope grows inside Amelia. Phoenix asks if they're really doing this. Jack confirms it. Weston fetches a tray of vodka shots.

Someone toasts the new club. Amelia shouts that her father said they could rename it. Jack grins and says their parents created a legacy, so they should do the same. In unison they raise their drinks and toast to Legacy. Amelia realizes this could be the start of something good. It's probably for the best that Matis isn't running the place. She needs to get over that crush anyway. What did she expect? That he would fall in love with his own goddaughter? Even for a dreamer like her, that's delusional.

Almost Two Years Later

Amelia crouches over a large studio table at Legacy, surrounded by unfinished sketches and fabric scraps. She has an Adderall prescription and a lifelong crush on the one man she can't have. She's working on a floral spring line she secretly hates, trying to create something for a designer's fashion program. Her best friend Freya has been pushing her toward it, but Amelia feels like a mess compared to Freya's discipline. She forgets to eat, still lives with her parents, and only has her job because her father handed it to her. Her love life is stalled by her crush on a man twenty-eight years older than her.

The club is hours from opening. Weston runs the bar, Elizabeth manages performers, Jack and Julian leave by dinnertime now that they have partners. Amelia has the largest studio at the end of the hall. She deliberates over color palettes, bouncing between palm greens and safe floral designs. She hates floral, but floral sells. Then heavy footsteps echo down the hall.

Matis Moreau appears in her doorway. He's her godfather, a man of two sides: charming and flirtatious for everyday encounters, and a late-night presence wooing patrons into back rooms. Amelia has known him her whole life, but he was often absent. At some point she began to see him differently. Compared to the immature guys her own age, Matis is worldly, sophisticated, funny, kind, and so handsome it hurts to look at him. For seven years she's been obsessed. She's twenty-five now. She knows she shouldn't daydream about her godfather.

Matis greets her warmly. Amelia scrambles down from her table, sending supplies flying. Her heart pounds. She tries to play it cool. He laughs, his dimples showing. She tells him the club is falling apart without him, but he only laughs. She gazes up at him, wondering if today will be the day he sees her as a woman. He steps closer. Then his expression melts into a playful smile and he taps her nose, telling her she's his favorite. Amelia swallows the disappointment.

Then he delivers the real blow. He's not at the club for a meeting. He's renting the playroom with the beautiful woman from last week, the one with colorful tattoos. Amelia's heart plummets. She struggles to hold a fake smile. He mentions he might take the woman out for drinks first. Bile rises in Amelia's throat. He winks and retreats, calling her Trouble. He leaves, and Amelia collapses against the table. She has to get over him. She's twenty-five and should be in her prime. Instead she's crushing on a man over twice her age. It's time to move on. She grabs the palm green pencil and starts to sketch.

Matis

Matis lies in the playroom with a beautiful woman in his arms. The sex is good, but the pleasure is empty. He's fifty-three years old and has spent three and a half decades having every type of sex imaginable. Sex is his language, his life. But it's lost its luster. The woman riding him pauses to ask if he's all right. Matis snaps back into character with a charming smile, flips her onto her back, and drives into her with practiced skill. When she screams out her orgasm, he struggles through a weak climax himself. It's pathetic.

Francesca crawls up beside him, laughing that the rumors are true. When he asks what rumors, she tells him people say he's still got it. She admits he's the oldest guy she's ever slept with, but by far the best. Matis feels even worse. She stands to dress, and he asks how old she is. Twenty-five, she says. Then Amelia's face enters his mind. Amelia is twenty-five. He looks at the black-haired woman again. She's Amelia's age. When the hell did that happen? Francesca notices his stunned expression and asks if twenty-five is too young. Matis clears his throat and claims it's not. He explains he just realized his goddaughter is twenty-five. Francesca sucks in air and says, "Yikes."

After sex, Matis makes an awkward blunder, mentioning his goddaughter again. Francesca observes how strange that must be. Matis backpedals, telling her he doesn't know why he brought it up. He offers to get a drink. She laughs, pointing out this is something they were supposed to do before they "fucked like animals." She steps close, runs her nails through his chest hair, and tells him it's fine, because no one likes a gentleman in a sex club anyway. Then she strides out, leaving him reeling.

At the nearly empty club, the young bartender Weston tops off Matis's glass with cabernet. The lights are low, jazz crackles on the speakers. Matis looks around and admires the work of the six successors who have carried Legacy into the next generation. The melancholy sinks deep into his bones. He gave this place up two years ago, thinking it was time, and now he's not so sure. He has no one, nothing, no drive: just a lonely old man drinking wine in a club he's outgrown. His thoughts drift upstairs to Amelia, surrounded by her creations, burning with ambition. She is color and chaos and bursts of genius, and he envies her. If he could start over and truly let someone in, it would be someone like that. But not her. Amelia is his best friend's daughter and his goddaughter, and that's a line he refuses to cross. He drains his wine. He was once a king in this realm. Now he's a shadow.

The Wednesday Night Dinner

Amelia has a private rule for family dinners: avoid topics like your career, your love life, and that obsessive crush you've carried since you were a teenager. She's stuffed, leaning back at the rooftop terrace of Freya's restaurant. Her parents sit at one end of the table, her brother Julian and his family at the other, and Matis sits across from her.

Freya, glowing and fiddling with the gold band on her left hand, beams at Amelia's compliments. But the conversation turns on Amelia herself: everyone praises her as talented, and she squirms. She deflects by insisting she merely gave the club a fresh coat of paint. Matis joins the teasing, telling her it was far more than paint. Her mother begs for details about the spring line Amelia is designing for a program she wants to get into. Amelia dismisses her own chances. The whole table boos her and pelts her with napkins. Freya insists

Part 2 - Chapters 5 to 8

Part 2 - Chapters 5 to 8

Matis sits across from Amelia on the worn metro seat, her feet propped up next to him, the bright red polish on her toes catching his eye. She's holding his phone, building his dating profile at his request.

She reads aloud: likes red wine and French jazz, looking for a committed relationship and emotional vulnerability. He objects. Hookups, one-night stands, that's his style. But Amelia refuses to write that, reminding him he wants a real partner. She asks why dating is so hard for a man with his reputation. Matis hesitates, aware that she sees him as a father figure, but confesses anyway: he loses interest in people as soon as he sleeps with them. He's conditioned himself to want only sex, to enjoy being alone. But now that solitude feels like punishment. He's a lonely man, and he fears it's too late to find someone.

Amelia scoffs and revises his profile, suggesting he wants to take things slow enough to build feelings before sleeping with someone. He claims he's tried that. He hasn't.

When she moves to take his photo on the metro, he protests. She tells him he's too hot for that, that he'll come across as a catfish. She snaps the picture as he leans back with a crooked smile. Her compliment warms his chest in a way he finds strange, coming from Ronan's daughter.

A rowdy group of young men boards the train. They notice Amelia, and one starts toward her with lewd French. Matis's blood boils. He barks at her to come to him, tucking her between his body and the window, and sends the young men a hard glare that makes them back down. His mind wanders to what he would do if any of them touched her. He would do anything to protect her. It's that simple.

Leaning in to watch her work on his profile, he breathes in the floral scent of her hair, then catches himself and pulls away. She's beautiful, but she's his goddaughter. He would be a monster to consider anything else.

She finishes his profile. He starts swiping left on nearly everyone. Then Laura appears, forty-four, with long brown hair and a wide smile. He swipes right.

Amelia's knee bounces, her fingers wringing in her lap. He asks if she's on the app too. She opens her phone, and he spots a folder full of dating apps, including Salacious, notorious for matching people on kinks. His mind spins with questions about what she might be into. The thought sends instant arousal through him, and he yanks his arm off the seat, horrified at himself. He asks to see her dating profile to change the subject.

Her profile photo is charming. He studies her potential matches, all young men in their twenties, more interested in themselves than in her. He rejects them one by one. The man with the expensive car. Left. The DJ. Left. The bartender. Left. The teacher. Left.

Amelia giggles. "Are you going to let me swipe right on anyone?" Their eyes meet, and he finds himself staring too long. The thought of any other man touching her makes him hate this entire plan.

"No one will ever be good enough for you, Trouble."

Her gentle smile fades, but she holds his gaze. Then she sighs and says, "I wish you wouldn't say things like that to me."

His phone buzzes. You have a match! The feeling in his gut isn't elation. It's closer to regret. The match is Laura. "You've still got it, old man," Amelia says.

They reach the stop. Passing the young men still eyeing Amelia, Matis positions himself between her and them, holding her close. She fits neatly under his chin, and the thought terrifies him. He makes himself a promise: when he gets home, he'll message the woman in blue and put in real effort. For everyone's sake, he needs to find a partner.

Amelia's Night at Home

Matis walks Amelia to her front door. She invites him in for a nightcap, but he declines. She watches him walk away, then goes inside.

She's still riding the high of his words on the train: No one will ever be good enough for you. It was meant in a fatherly way, she knows. But that doesn't stop the line from burrowing into her heart.

In the living room, her mom Daisy waits up for her. Amelia admits she can tell Matis is lonely. Daisy says that's why they always invite him to everything, he's family. A fearful thought surfaces: if Matis finds someone else, will he stop coming around? Daisy shrugs, saying sometimes it happens like that. They wouldn't lose him completely, but he'd have a life of his own.

Amelia's stomach grows heavy. If her mother ever knew her true feelings for their family friend, she'd be horrified.

Daisy mentions it's a miracle if Amelia can even get Matis to commit. Amelia complains about his reaction to the word "commitment." They dissolve into giggles.

Then Daisy offers a story: Matis tried to seduce her once, before Amelia was born. She almost went with him, she admits. Amelia is mortified. But a thought crosses her mind: "You didn't... did you?" Daisy deflects, then finally relents: "I'm only teasing you. Your father is the only man for me."

Amelia believes this fully. Her parents have been disgustingly in love her whole life. And that's the problem, she realizes. Her father set the bar so high that no one can reach it. There's only ever been one person she could imagine committing to like that, and he's the one person she can never have.

Her mother asks about her dating life, and Amelia admits Matis made her swipe left on every single guy. Daisy smiles. "He just has high standards for you. You always were his favorite."

Those words make Amelia melt a little. Maybe this is what she'll have to settle for: being special to him. He loves her, just not in the way she wants.

Her phone buzzes. A text from Matis: Now what? He got a match. She heads upstairs to help him craft his response.

In her room, she texts him, telling him to message Laura. His first attempt is a disaster, calling Laura sexy and declaring he'd love to kiss that smile off her face. Amelia types and deletes twenty responses before offering something gentle and simple. He sends it. Amelia smiles sadly at the screen. Some lucky woman somewhere in Paris is reading that message with no idea how good she has it.

Matis asks if Amelia has swiped right on any boys. She tells him no, mentioning her mom shared enlightening stories about him trying to seduce her. I try to seduce everyone, he replies. Amelia doesn't type the rest: Not me.

Laura answers back. Amelia coaches him through the conversation. When Matis seems lost, he calls her instead of texting. She's in the shower, and she answers on speaker.

He tells her Laura keeps asking questions. Amelia walks him through it, telling him to lead with "retired" and not mention the sex club. She reminds him to finish every line with a question. "You're very good at this," he says. She replies that it's too bad she doesn't have any matches of her own to practice on.

"Maybe you shouldn't be on dating apps, Trouble," he mumbles casually. How else is she supposed to meet men? He says people used to find dates without apps all the time. But he insists a man should have to work for her. This makes it too easy.

Amelia points out she's still single. Matis makes a disgruntled sound. She changes the subject. He tells her the conversation with Laura is going well. "I haven't tried to sleep with her yet. You are a very good teacher."

Amelia stands naked and dripping in the shower, her phone in hand. He complains that waiting a few days before asking Laura out sounds too long. Amelia points out that if a few days of chatting feels grueling, then Laura probably isn't the right one. He concedes and says he will be patient. When he says good night, a blanket of sadness settles over her shoulders. The thought of knowing he will be chatting with someone else hurts. But that is all the more reason to do this, to move on. She calls him old man. His voice, like soothing silk, answers, Good night, Trouble.

A Visit to Estelle

The next rule is simple: A gentleman always brings flowers. Under cloudy skies, Matis walks through a courtyard carrying a paper-wrapped bouquet of lilies. The nurse tells him that Estelle does not want to come out of her room. He makes his way to room thirty-seven.

His mother sits slumped in a wheelchair by the window, staring blankly at the garden. She has not recognized his face in nearly two years, and now she does not bother pretending. She only stares, blinks, stays quiet.

Matis replaces the dead lilies in her vase with the fresh ones, chatting warmly as he works. Photos of the two of them sit in frames all over her room. In every single one, they are happy. He asks her to go outside with him. She shakes her head. He kneels in front of her and begs her in French: Please, Maman, let us go for

Part 3 - Chapters 9 to 12

Part 3 - Chapters 9 to 12

Matis sits across from Laura, a Canadian woman living in Paris, and he is miserable. The date is going well, she is attractive and interested, but he feels out of place and desperate to skip ahead to sex. When she asks about his retired profession, he tells her directly: he owned a sex club, L'Amour, for thirty years. Laura takes it well and is fascinated. He tells her about his mother being a burlesque dancer, starting work there at fifteen, and reopening the club at twenty-three when the old owner passed it down to him. He feels proud of that past. As Laura plays footsie under the table, he knows he should end the night properly, but old habits call to him. With Amelia's earlier encounter still on his mind, he invites Laura to see the club.

At the rebranded Legacy club, Matis shows her around and leads her downstairs to the sex club. Laura is fascinated despite her nerves. At the bar he pulls her close and kisses her deeply, trying to drown out the image of Amelia that keeps intruding. He agrees when Laura asks to rent a room, the one thing he promised he wouldn't do. They take the voyeur room, and as he leads her inside, an uneasy feeling runs under his skin.

Amelia wakes with a start, her sketchbook clutched to her chest, realizing she overslept past her reservation time in the room she booked for sketching. As she scrambles to gather fallen pencils, she hears the lock mechanism. A couple enters, laughing and kissing. Panic floods her. She hides behind the couch. Then she hears his voice: Matis. She looks through the sheer curtain and sees him with Laura, kissing her passionately. Amelia is frozen, stunned that he brought her here after swearing he wouldn't sleep with anyone on a first date.

She watches as Laura drops to her knees. Amelia knows she should hate this, but her body betrays her with arousal. When Matis carries Laura to the bed, Amelia feels an illicit heat building. But then Matis, lost in passion, repeats her name: "Come for me, Amelia." The words stop the world. Laura shoves him away, shrieking that she is Laura, not Amelia, and storms out. Matis is left alone, muttering to himself. Amelia, still hiding, accidentally cracks a pencil. Matis demands who is there.

Amelia crawls out and reveals herself. Matis is horrified. She tries to explain she fell asleep, that it was an accident, but he is mortified, panicking that her father can never know. He insists saying her name was a mistake. Amelia sees the terror and shame in his eyes and realizes he will never see her as anything more than his goddaughter. He says they must forget the whole thing and moves toward the door. But compassion wins over embarrassment, and he rushes back to pull her into a tight embrace, hugging her as if saying goodbye. He whispers that she was always trouble, then walks out, leaving Amelia alone.

For four days, Matis disappears. He can't escape the memory of his own voice saying her name. He avoids the club, family dinner, his friends, even his mother. Isolated in his apartment, he gives in to a dark fantasy of Amelia, and the release is followed immediately by shame. He calls himself an old pervert. Late Wednesday night, the buzzer rings. When he sees Amelia's face on the security feed, he sighs. She rides the elevator up, and he lets her in. Standing in his flat, she commands him to stop avoiding her. He cracks a smile at her bossiness, although everything between them now feels different, heavier.

Matis lets Amelia push past him into his apartment, even though he knows being alone with her is dangerous. She begs him to talk it out so they can go back to being "us." He pours two glasses of wine and takes the farthest possible seat.

His apology surprises her. Saying her name that night with Laura was a slip, he explains. When he should have said Laura's name, Amelia's was at the front of his mind. Amelia looks almost disappointed. She apologizes for being in that room. He calls it a mistake, Trouble.

Silence hangs between them. Amelia asks if the date with Laura went well. He rolls his eyes. He wouldn't have seen Laura again anyway. Amelia studies him and asks why he sabotages himself. He says he used to be happy. She whispers that she wishes he could be happy now.

He turns the question back on her: how did she end up in the voyeur room on a Saturday night? She hides her face and insists the couch is comfortable. He jokes about what people do on that couch. She points out they have an excellent cleaning crew, and for a moment they laugh together, genuinely. Then the teasing sharpens. He tells her he doesn't believe she was there by accident. Maybe she has a voyeuristic side. She insists she would never violate anyone's privacy. Then he says the thing that stops the laughter: "But you did like it."

The humor vanishes. She whispers, "I did."

Matis realizes she isn't being flirty. Amelia seems as surprised by her own discovery as he is. He keeps his voice low and careful. Was that her first time watching someone else? Yes. How did it make her feel? "It was like all the noise just went away. It made me feel in control." Does she normally feel in control during sex? She shakes her head no. He tells her voyeurism is a perfectly normal kink. Then he asks the sharper question: was it the sex that aroused her, or the watching? She lifts her eyes to meet his. "The watching."

He wants to move to the couch and comfort her, but he stays where he is. He tells her she works in a sex club. Why not let herself watch, see how it makes her feel, maybe find someone else who likes to watch or be watched and discover it together? She laughs and reminds him he won't let her meet anyone.

She asks what he likes. He deflects. Then, out of nowhere, she tells him someone asked for her number. A cute guy her age, from Geo's bar. Matis stiffens. A sick feeling floods his stomach. Age is a chasm between them, deepened by the fact that he has known her all her life, that her father is his best friend, that he is her godfather. He should want her to meet a young man her own age. But he doesn't want that. Not at all.

Across the city, Amelia links arms with Weston while they walk. He asks if the cute American has texted her. Amelia blushes. Yes. Freya meets them, and the three friends trade hugs. Amelia hasn't told either of them about what happened in the voyeur room. It feels too personal for Matis, and she can't betray his trust.

At a fondue restaurant, Amelia's phone lights up with Jacob's name. He asks her out for drinks tomorrow night. Then he sends another message: he is traveling for the summer with his older sister, and he doesn't want to leave her alone. He asks if Amelia has a brother or a single guy friend who would double-date with them. His sister is thirty-one and doesn't mind younger guys. Weston can't help, and Freya calls the request strange. Jacob is only in Europe for the summer, but Amelia tells them she wants more than just a fling. If they hit it off, maybe he could stay.

Weston asks, "What about Matis?" Freya tenses. Amelia's first instinct is no, because watching Matis flirt across a table sounds unbearable. Freya barks no. When Weston asks what's wrong with Matis, Amelia finally admits she has a crush on him. Freya corrects her: this is more than a crush. Amelia says it out loud. "I'm in love with him." Weston blinks. "He's your godfather." "I'm aware." He tells her not to take Matis on the double date. Amelia slumps. Then Weston changes his mind. He saw Matis that night. He noticed Matis glancing at her during his date. He thinks Matis might feel the same way. Amelia insists he doesn't. Even if Matis did, he would never act on it. Weston scoffs. Amelia's parents have a thirty-five-year age difference. Liam's parents were stepsiblings. Weston's parents were best friends who became a throuple. This family doesn't judge anyone for falling for their godfather.

Freya is still against it. She doesn't want Amelia putting her heart at risk again. But Weston has already planted the hope. His answer: take Matis on the date and see how he reacts to the cute American boy touching her. If Matis has a fit, she will have her answer. Amelia knows there is no version of this story that ends with her and Matis together. But she wants to know. She texts Jacob, asking how his sister feels about older men. Jacob says he doesn't care. Amelia tells him she'll bring a friend. Typing that sentence feels awful. Jacob confirms for tomorrow.

After the immersive art exhibit, Freya heads home and Weston calls it a night. Amelia doesn't go home. She goes back to the club. It's Friday: masquerade night. Amelia snatches a mask from the bowl by the entrance and slips it on. Tonight she won't touch anyone. She will only watch, exactly as Mat

Part 4 - Chapters 13 to 16

On a Paris street outside his apartment, Matis hears Amelia’s voice calling after him. He hasn’t seen her since she appeared at his door three days ago, and he’s been avoiding the club all week. She trots toward him, impossibly cheerful, and announces he has a date tonight. His first terrified thought is that the date is with her, but she explains: Jacob, the guy who texted her, wants to take her for drinks, but he’s traveling with his sister, Olivia, who needs a date too. Matis would be Olivia’s date, and in exchange Amelia can get his genuine read on Jacob while she gives him pointers on dating Olivia.

Matis hesitates until Amelia clings to his arm, begging with a pouty face, and reminds him this is the only way she can see Jacob tonight. He gives in. She throws her arms around his waist, and he hugs her back while silently feeling like the worst man in the world for the forbidden thoughts she stirs in him.

Later that evening, Matis stands in his kitchen with a glass of Macallan 34, trying to steady his nerves before the date. His doorbell rings, and it’s Ronan Kade, his best friend and Amelia’s father. Matis has been avoiding him because he hasn’t faced him since pleasuring himself to visions of Ronan’s daughter. But as they share whiskey, Matis is relieved he doesn’t feel worse around him.

Ronan says Matis has been a stranger and wants to make sure he’s okay. Matis admits he regrets giving up the club. Even though the retirement was his idea, the life he thought he wanted has left him unfulfilled. Ronan understands and argues it’s never too late, pointing to his own late start at L’Amour and his late-found family with Daisy. Matis struggles to believe a man past his prime can start over, but he takes the words in. Ronan tells him not to give up on the dating apps, promising his daughter won’t give up easily. The word “daughter” makes Matis cringe.

At the bar, Amelia sits across from Jacob while Matis sits with Olivia. Amelia finds Olivia prettier than expected, annoyingly so. Olivia is loud and dominates the conversation, while Jacob seems shy and awkward in a way Amelia still finds endearing. When Olivia asks Matis what kind of woman he normally dates, Matis answers with a flirtatious smirk: “Trouble.” Amelia’s head snaps up. That’s what he calls her, but if he means anything by it, he doesn’t let it show. She’s been watching for signs that Weston’s suspicions about Matis might be true, but so far Matis is the perfect gentleman, focused only on Olivia. Meanwhile, Amelia can’t commit to the date in her own head. Her thoughts scatter between Matis’s tone and eyes, the noise of the bar, and the heavy interest in Jacob’s gaze.

Excusing herself, Amelia hurries to the bathroom, where she tells herself this was a mistake. Olivia follows her in, unexpectedly kind. She apologizes for talking too much and tells Amelia that Jacob really likes her. She suggests Amelia and Jacob dance or get some time alone. Amelia decides Olivia might be right. If Jacob kisses her tonight, perhaps it will be enough to distract her from Matis. Olivia wraps an arm around Amelia and walks her back to the table.

At the table, Olivia announces the plan: Amelia and Jacob should go dance. Jacob takes Amelia’s hand and leads her to a sitting area by the dance floor. He compliments her and says he really likes her. But Amelia feels a pair of guarded gray eyes on her back the whole time. When she glances over her shoulder, Matis is staring at her with intense focus, and hope blooms in her chest. Then his attention is called back to Olivia, and her hopes die. Jacob asks her to dance, and Amelia forces herself to say yes.

On the crowded dance floor, something unexpected happens: she starts to have fun. Jacob’s hands settle on her waist, his shy warmth loosens the tension in her chest. When he leans in for a kiss, she wets her lips, ready. But over his shoulder she sees Matis watching, and the room turns stifling. In a sudden rush she realizes Jacob is not the one she wants. Matis is. She pulls away and whispers she needs air. Jacob’s hands tighten on her arms, and Amelia feels herself on the verge of an overload fit. Then Matis is there, wrapping her in his arms and using himself as a shield, guiding her through the crowd to cold air.

Outside, Matis cups her face and asks in French if she is okay. Amelia clings to him, apologizing for ruining the evening. Matis strokes her back and promises he will always take care of her. Jacob rushes out, frantic and apologetic, and Amelia forces herself to smile and say she just gets overwhelmed sometimes. She notices Matis is still holding her. She expects him to let go any moment, but he does not.

Matis coldly offers to get Amelia home, and Jacob backs off. Amelia asks for a second, and Matis goes inside to say goodbye to Olivia. Alone with Jacob, Amelia admits she felt something before the moment unraveled. Jacob confesses he felt it too. Still, they agree to try again another night. Jacob says he will text her tomorrow, and neither of them leans in for the kiss. Matis and Olivia reappear, and the double date comes to an end as the siblings walk away, leaving Matis and Amelia alone outside the club.

The moment Jacob and Olivia are out of sight, Matis’s smile fades. He asks if she is sure she is okay. Amelia says she is fine, but she won’t meet his eyes. When he presses her, she admits she feels like she ruined the night. Matis’s heart aches. Holding out his arms, he tells her the night is still young and offers to take the long way home, to show her his Paris. Reluctantly, she smiles, loops her arm through his, and nestles into his side.

At half past eleven, Paris is alive. The two of them stroll through the Latin Quarter while a busker plays in the distance. Matis tries to savor Amelia on his arm, but he cannot shake the vision of her with Jacob. He knows that boy is not right for her. He is supposed to be helping her find a good man, but he cannot bring himself to do it. Deep down, he believes he is her perfect man, which he immediately dismisses as ridiculous. He resolves to get these thoughts out of his head for good.

He asks her what she really wants from her life. Is the club truly her dream? She insists she is grateful for her portion, but Matis pushes past the deflection, and finally she admits: she wants to be a real fashion designer. He greets the confession with joy. She tells him about an incubator program for new designers, one she has already applied to. The only problem is the program wants a portfolio and a visual pitch. Matis suggests she stage a fashion show at the club. The idea lights her up. She asks him to help her, and on impulse he whispers, “I’ll do anything for you, Trouble.”

The words terrify him. He is her godfather. The moment breaks when the Eiffel Tower shimmers with gold lights at midnight. Matis suddenly says it is late, but Amelia refuses, tugging him across the street with a playful laugh. “Come on, old man. You promised to show me your Paris.”

Nearly one thirty finds them veering down an alley along the Seine. Matis leads her to a small courtyard behind an old bakery, a place he knew as a teenager. He reaches over the gate for the hidden latch he used as a boy. Amelia whisper-shouts that they are trespassing. Matis only winks. The courtyard is small and disheveled, but in its disarray, it is beautiful, and Amelia’s eyes prove she sees it too. Using a key he has carried for thirty-five years, Matis unlocks the back door and returns with unsold macarons. Amelia’s eyes light up at the rose ones, her favorite. She rests her head on his shoulder as she eats. Matis’s pistachio is delicious, but watching her is better. He sees her now as Amelia the woman, Amelia the woman he wants. The desire will never be acted on, and that shame still unsettles him, but he is slowly becoming desensitized to it.

With her mouth full, Amelia asks what he thought of her date. Matis swallows and says the man seemed nice. She sees through him at once. “You don’t like him.” She admits her date was a little strange, and that she is different too. Matis whispers that being different is not strange. Then she says the words that land like stones against his chest: “I do like him.” She tells him the boy wanted to kiss her good night and she feels bad they didn’t. Matis lies that he is glad she likes him.

When he asks what is funny, she looks up at him and asks if he tries to be perfect or if it comes naturally. She tells him he always says the right thing, that he would be the best boyfriend on the planet, and yet he is never anyone’s boyfriend. Least of all hers. The truth strikes